7 Crazy Technologies (Part I)

“If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse”
— Henry Ford

So many of the products we can’t seem to live without today were once nothing more than crazy ideas.

Electricity, airplanes, personal computing, smartphones, the Internet, and social media were all things thought to be impossible at some point in human history — if they were thought of at all.

Yet in the short time since all of these inventions have come into existence, they’ve become nearly inseparable with what it means to be human. As a society, we now use these kinds of technologies on a daily basis. Without them, the world would simply fall apart.

Somewhere down the line, though, we seem to have forgotten just how crazy many of these things truly are. In short, we’ve become acclimated to the amazing.

With almost no effort at all, we can guide 4,000-pound machines from point A to point B. We can travel coast to coast 30,000 feet in the air. We can even instantly connect with our loved ones — and have face-to-face conversations — no matter where on earth they happen to be.

In retrospect, these are all amazing, crazy feats, yet on a daily basis, we’re no longer amazed. That’s because when it comes to technology, these words are relative. Things are only “crazy” until we realize they’re actually possible.

In this article, we’ll reveal seven of the “craziest” ideas technology companies are pursuing today. We’re taking the opportunity to recognize just how exciting these things are now, because in the not-so-distant future, we’re probably going to end up taking them for granted.

1. Universal (Free?) Internet

Here’s one just about everyone (minus a few service providers) can get excited about: universal, ubiquitous, and high-speed Wi-Fi.

There are three primary initiatives to get the idea rolling, each coming from some of the most prominent figures in tech.

Facebook, for one, is looking follow through with Mark Zuckerberg’s promise to bring the entire world online (at no cost) by investing in satellite and drone technology. Essentially, the company wants to create a network of drones, each the size of a 747, that will beam Internet access down from the edges of space.

The company has already purchased drone-maker Ascenta and has launched the Facebook Connectivity Lab as part of the operation. Facebook is already providing free Internet in Colombia and in several African countries including Zambia.

Google is implementing a similar plan, having purchased drone-maker Titan Aerospace to fold into its Project Loon initiative. Like Facebook, Google plans to create a network of low-orbiting drones/satellites to relay signals down to earth. The ultimate goal of each company is to increase the user base for its own service.

Finally, Elon Musk revealed a seemingly crazy plan for SpaceX to launch a fleet of micro-satellites that will provide unfettered and “very low cost” Internet.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk plans to launch 700 satellites, each weighing less than 250 pounds, at an estimated cost of $1 billion or more to build.

The ultimate goal, in Musk’s words, is to create “a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date.”

According to Musk:

The speed of light is 40 percent faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fiber. The long-term potential is to be the primary means of long-distance Internet traffic and to serve people in sparsely populated areas.

In other words, Internet data packets that currently need to go through dozens of terrestrial routers will ultimately be dealt with in space. This would make for a wider-reaching, faster, and ultimately more efficient (read: cheaper) Internet.

2. Self-Driving (Autonomous) Vehicles

No doubt you’ve been hearing about self-driving cars in recent months. Google’s LiDAR-equipped vehicles have been safely navigating U.S. roads in Nevada, Florida, and California since 2012… and now multiple major auto-manufacturers are following suit.

Several major companies have developed working prototypes of autonomous vehicles, including Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Continental Automotive Systems, Nissan, Toyota, Audi, and Volvo.

Nissan has called for driverless cars by 2020. Google has called for them by 2020. KPMG and the Center for Automotive Research predict them in showrooms by 2019. GM even said they could be on public roads as soon as 2018 (that’s just three years from now).

It’s not just the automotive industry warming up to the idea of autonomous cars, either. Government agencies are becoming increasingly open to driverless vehicles.

In December 2014, the UK announced a total of £19m in funding to test driverless cars in four of its cities: Greenwich, Bristol, Coventry, and Milton Keynes.

According to Tim Armitage of engineering consultancy group Arup:

Our plan with the practical demonstration phases is to start testing with single vehicles on closed roads, and to build up to a point where all road users, as well as legislators, the police and insurance companies, are confident about how driverless pods and fully and partially autonomous cars can operate safely on UK roads.

According to Google executive Chris Urmson, the company “[doesn’t] see any particular regulatory hurdles” here in the U.S.

He pointed out in an interview that Google has been briefing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “from early on in [the] program” and that “the worst thing [Google] could do is surprise them.”

Many people have criticized Google’s driverless car ambitions, saying the company can’t do it alone — and maybe they’re right. From the words of Urmson, “We’d be remiss not to talk to… the biggest auto manufacturers. They’ve got a lot to offer.”

In 2011, Google was alone in this endeavor, but today, it has every auto-manufacturer taking note.

In addition to working tightly with government agencies, Google has recently revealed it’s in talks with a slew of auto-manufacturers including General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Daimler, and Volkswagen.

Perhaps driverless cars aren’t so crazy after all.

3. Hyperloop/Tube Travel

To conclude Part I is yet another brainchild of tech mogul Elon Musk: the Hyperloop.

Musk first announced he was considering building a Hyperloop transportation system in the summer of 2013. Not much was revealed about the project at the time other than the general idea of how it would work — and how much it might cost.

In short, the Hyperloop is a way of avoiding the air-resistance that makes supersonic travel extremely difficult at low altitudes. Musk’s solution to this problem is to build a Jetson-like tube over (or under) the ground that contains a controlled low-pressure environment.

Inside the tube would be capsules that transport passengers from destinations such as San Francisco to Los Angeles in as little as 30 minutes.

According to original projections from Musk, the Hyperloop would cost around $6 billion, which is actually pretty cheap considering the bullet train being proposed in California would run at around $60 billion. Not to mention the fact that the Hyperloop would travel up to four times as fast.

Less than two years after the initial announcement, Musk revealed he would indeed be following through with the Hyperloop by building a test track, possibly in Texas.

Helping Musk are about 100 engineers from across the country who are sharing their Hyperloop ideas in exchange for stock options. A group of 25 UCLA students, led by Professor Craig Hodgetts, is aiding as well by working on route planning, capsule design, and cost analysis.

According to Hodgetts, the project is “hugely feasible” and the design is “bulletproof.” The only true hurdle here is regulation and red tape.

 Continue to Part II.

Until next time,

Jason Stutman

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